Working Minds and Hands: Learning through Teaching about Technology Evaluation

The Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation (CITE) is an interdisciplinary partnership between USAID and MIT. The goal is to create a methodological framework that allows development organizations to evaluate technologies they may use to help people living in poverty. The cornerstone of our method lies on three evaluation principles: suitability, scalability, and sustainability.

Collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) is at the core of everything CITE does, but one activity piloted in 2015 has shown particular promise in this regard. CITE partnered with MIT’s International Development Living Group (iHouse) and two international NGOs in the Exploring the Case for Technologies in International Development project, which uses a case-based approach to identify contributors to success and failure during the implementation of technologies in specific development contexts. 

This case study was submitted as part of USAID's CLA Case Competition, held in August 2015. Taken together, this collection of submissions illustrates the diversity of ways collaborating, learning, and adapting approaches are being operationalized in the field. Stringent judging criteria was used to determine official CLA Case Competition winners, so not all submissions should be considered an official USAID endorsement of best practice. To view all entries, visit the CLA Case Competition page.